Which new technology will capture the market?

What will be the next new technology to emerge and take-off? Trying to figure that one out is a bit of a tough one but no doubt if someone could predict the next iPhone or Facebook they’d be coining it in for years to come.

This week I’ve been thinking about all the different new and ground-breaking technologies that have emerged in recent years. Some turned up on the scene and disappeared pretty quickly while others (Apps being the current case in point) are now so commonplace that new jobs and marketplaces have sprung up around them in just the last couple of years even.

When I think back I find it quite interesting to realise just how many technologies have been and gone – arrived, shook up the world, and then quickly been superseded and turned into retro collectors’ items. Recent history includes a serious number of examples of a consistent trend in technology. New technologies and products emerge, shake up the market, are adopted, re-shape the existing market place, and then ultimately decline and fall by the wayside as the next big innovation comes along. This isn’t anything new, it’s been happening for centuries. It’s just the increase in speed and frequency of this cycle that shows the change in the times.
Two obvious tech streams which have seen massive change and innovation just in my lifetime are audio and video.

Audio has witnessed the rise and fall of LP records, magnetic Cassette Tapes, CDs, Mini Disk, and now the current medium of choice is MP3 and other similar digital formats.

Similarly, video has seen film reel, VHS cassettes, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, and now MP4 etc.
Recent developments have seen new mobile technologies grip the marketplace and emerge as being ‘THE’ tech of the moment. With the range of new technologies on our radar today, it’s hard to predict which ones will gain true traction and have lasting longevity and success.

Cloud computing (data storage and processing), crowd sourcing, 4G, super-fast fibre broadband, near-field-communication (NFC), Apps, 3D TV and 3D Film etc., all pose threats to existing products. However they also present new possibilities and opportunities for new products and businesses to pop up in these new markets.

Businesses today have to carefully pick and choose which tech platforms they will invest in and adopt, and often have to do so very quickly in order to keep up with the times or be left behind.

I don’t know which technology will be the next to take-off and stick, but at the moment it looks as though Apps are here to stay and the mobile market, with smart phones and 3G/4G etc. is definitely one to watch. At any rate, it’s a pretty exciting time to be not just a consumer, but also someone looking to start up a business and at some point invest in and become involved in these new technologies.